Promise Me This
by Banandie
Summary: This story takes place durig HBP. My OC is facing much trouble in school with relationships and family. Disowned from her pure-blood, death-eater family, she feels more alone than ever, relying on promises made with her sister and two best friends.
1. Chapter 1: The Train Ride

**Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! This is my second fanfiction, and they are both Harry Potter. It would be awesome if you decided to check my Next Generation one out (: Please enjoy!**

_**Chapter 1-The Train Ride**_

"Promise me you'll write? Every week?" My sister, Alexandra said as she pulled me into a hug and started crying.

"Promise." I said; my voice muffled in her ear. "Oh, Alex, _please_ don't cry. Everything will be fine."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. It's just… what if they come recruiting, and they recognize me?"

"They won't find you. As long as I'm secret keeper, and no one else, you're safe. I have to board the train now. _Please_ stay safe?" I beg, as I hug her one last time before heading to board the Hogwarts Express to begin my sixth year. I'm going to miss her, I know it. I pause in the entryway and take one last look at my short, skinny, brunette sister, not knowing when I'd see her next.

I step inside and a stream of memories from the past five years rush over me. As I walk down the hall and notice all the nervous first years, I start to remember my very own first time at Hogwarts in 1991. I remember sitting in a stall with my third-year sister. She was already sorted into the Ravenclaw house, though my parents weren't too happy about it. Coming from a pureblood family of all Slytherins, it was a nasty shock when my sister's smarts and intelligence outdid her family history. She and my mother had gotten into a huge fight about it, and they haven't been too fond of each other since. Fearing our relationship would end the same way, I was strangely hoping to be placed in Slytherin. Lost in my thought, I didn't even notice the two other students walk in. One was a very petite girl, with long, curly brown hair and green eyes, and the other was an averaged height girl with a round face. Her pin-straight hair went down to her mid-waist, and was jet black. The curly haired girl extended her hand to me and interrupted my train of thought by saying, "Hi! My name is Mandy Brocklehurst, and this is Lisa. We are just starting here. What's your name?"

"Me? Oh, I'm Andrea. Andrea Gattuso." I said, grabbing her hand and shaking it, smiling. I remember that moment as the day I met my two best friends. The two people I can rely on with anything.

I snapped back to reality when I heard someone squealing my name, and I turned just in time to see Mandy running straight towards me, arms outstretched.

"Andie! Goodness, you've grown! Gah, I missed you! Come, Lice and I have a compartment already!" She squealed, grabbing my hand and dragging me into a compartment towards the back of the train. As I enter, I am greeted with another hug, this time from Lisa.

"You have to tell us all about your summer!" She squealed, pulling me into a seat.

"I-I can't. I'm sorry; I have to go to the prefects meeting." I sighed. "Plus, I don't think you guys can handle it…"

"Oh _come on!_ Of course we want to hear about it! Tell us in the dorms, promise us?" Mandy begged.

"Fine!" I giggled, as I slipped on my Ravenclaw robe with my shiny Prefect's badge on it. "I'll be back in a few!" I reminded them, and walked out the compartment door and back into the crowded train hallway.

When I entered the prefect's compartment, nearly everyone had seated. There were only two seats that were empty, besides my own, and from scanning all of the familiar faces I assumed they belonged to Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy.

"Welcome Andrea! How was your summer?" Hermione Granger greeted me.

"It was, well, okay I guess. And yours?" I replied politely. Something about her always intimidated me. She is probably the only student in our year that is smarter than me.

"About the same." She said.

_Yeah, right._ I thought to myself. "Um, where's Ron?"

"He'll be here in a minute; just had to change his robes." She informed. I decided to take a seat.

I chatted amongst the others, sparking a conversation with Anthony Goldstein (the other Ravenclaw prefect in my year) about Quidditch, and how I was planning on trying out for the team this year.

"Really? You should tell Roger. I think they are looking for a keeper." He advised. I nodded.

Suddenly, the cabin door opened to reveal the tall, ginger-haired Ron Weasley. "Looks like Malfoy is skipping duties." He muttered.

"Well, we'll begin without him." Roger Davies, the Head Boy, began. We discussed our duties and rules, and welcomed the new group of prefects, and he dismissed us.

I scuttled into the hall and entered my compartment.

"How'd that go?" Mandy was the first to ask.

"Boring." I yawned. "Has the trolley come yet?"

"No. I think it is up front, serving the first years. So, I've noticed Anthony Goldstein has gotten a lot more attractive this year, don't you think?" She said, leaning in.

"I guess…" I admitted, blushing.

"Oh my goodness! You guys would be so cute together, and you get to work together as prefects too!" Squealed Lisa.

"Oh, would you get real? I barely know the kid!" I defended. But it wasn't working. They were both eyeing me suspiciously.

"You can change that!" Winked Mandy. "Come on, it's about time you find some romance!"

"I've had romance!" I defended. "Well, sort of…"

"Andie. Be real. Going to the Yule Ball with Ernie Macmillan does not count as 'romance'," she emphasized the last word by making little quotes with her fingers. "You need the real deal."

"Well it's easy for you to say! You've had what, five boyfriends in the past three years? Or was it six?" I recalled. "I don't even know if I have time for any relationships, with NEWTS coming and such…" I sighed. This shut them up. Being in Ravenclaw, we've all agreed that our education was ten times more important than our love lives.

There was a small silence, so I started fidgeting with my silver prefect's badge to distract myself.

Just as I started getting uncomfortable from the awkwardness, Ginny Weasley popped her head into my carriage and said, "Andrea, Professor Slughorn told me to fetch you and meet him in his compartment." I looked at her in puzzlement, and to cease my confusion, she added, "He's a new teacher! Potions, I think." I nodded my head, told my friends I'd be back, and climbed into the now empty hallway.

I followed Ginny to a carriage towards the front of the train, and entered. There was a plump, bald, older man sitting in a carriage surrounded by many familiar students, including Harry Potter.

"Ah, Ms. Gattuso, come in!" He motioned to an empty seat next to Neville Longbottom, where I quietly sat. He was talking to the students, going on about their relatives' accomplishments. I had almost completely tuned him out when he called on me.

"And you, Ms. Gattuso? How has your grandmother been? Has she been writing anything new?" My grandmother. How dare he bring up my cruel, evil grandmother?

I stiffened up and said, "I'm not sure. I haven't talked to her in a while." Quickly adding "Sir." To sound more polite.

"Andrea's grandmother is a very… well, dark author. She wrote _Secrets of the Darkest Art._ Is anyone familiar with it? Why don't you tell us about it, Ms. Gattuso?"

"I've tried reading it, but some of the stuff is just… unbearable. Cruel. There's this vile information on some objects called horcru-"

"Okay! Well, I'd get back to your cabins. I suppose we will be arriving soon…" He cut me off nervously. I quietly exited the compartment, walked down the hall, and re-entered my compartment where Lisa and Mandy were waiting. I told them all about the odd meeting with Slughorn, and mentioned some people who were also there.

…

"You are _so_ lucky to be a prefect." Lisa snorted. "I really don't see how some people got it, like _Malfoy._"

"You don't need to worry about him anymore." I muttered. They gave me questioning looks, so I continued, "He didn't show up to duties today. Stayed in his carriage. I wouldn't bother showing up to any meetings if I were him anyway. I doubt people respect him after him joining the Inquisitorial Squad…" I trailed off. I opened my mouth to continue my rant, but suddenly, the entire compartment was engulfed in darkness.

"Wh- What's going on?" Lisa said fearfully.

"I don't- I don't know." I stammered. It couldn't be dementors. Sure, I knew how to produce a patronus, but after this summer's events, I wasn't sure I had the strength. "I'll go check. _Lumos._" I muttered, illuminating my wand and walking into the hallway. Suddenly, the darkness began fading, and I could make out other students also peering into the hallway. _What in Merlin's beard just happened? _The darkness had almost cleared when it hit me.

"Peruvian Instant-Darkness Powder." I claimed when I climbed back into the compartment. "Must have slipped out of someone's pocket."

All three of us heaved out sighs of relief, and began talking about Our OWLS. It ends up; I scored the highest out of us, obtaining all Outstanding's with the exceptions of two Exceeds Expectations in Divination and Muggle Studies, and an Acceptable in Care of Magical Creatures. That means I'd be taking NEWT classes in Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts (which I probably would have failed, if it weren't for Dumbledore's Army), History of Magic, Herbology, Charms, Astronomy, and Arithmancy. Wow. I'm going to need to study. A lot. Before we knew it, the train had come to a slow, and very suddenly stopped. Looking out the window, I could tell we were at the Hogsmeade Station, so I made my way out and joined the crowd outside.


	2. Chapter 2: Finally Back Home

_**Chapter 2-Finally Back Home**_

I stood there, absorbing the beautiful sight of Hogsmeade, and taking in the cute, old-fashioned style of the village. "It's great to be back." I said to Lisa and Mandy.

"I missed this place! Can you believe we only have a year left?" Mandy said.

"I don't even know what I want to do with my life after this! I mean, a historian would be great, but there are so many choices!" Lisa exclaimed. "Well worry about that later, though! Let's go to the castle, I'm starving."

We walked to the horseless carriages, climbed into one, and it set off.

"This summer has been crazy." Mandy began. "Death eaters have come to my door three times, trying to recruit. You have no Idea."

"Believe me, I do. This summer has been crazy for me too." I responded. "I promise I'll tell you everything when we get to the dorm."

"Great!" Lisa giggled. "Can you believe it? He really is back…" She trailed off, the mood of our conversation getting serious again. "Can we promise each other that no matter what happens we will stick together?"

"Definitely." I agreed. "These are scary times… I can't stand to lose any of you. Not now."

"Oh girls, what's going to happen? People are dying every day. There was an attack right by my neighborhood. Scared mom to death, she almost didn't send me back…" Lisa trailed. "The worst part is the muggles don't know what's going on. Our Prime Minister has been blaming it on nature."

"They are so against muggles and muggleborns, it's sick." I sighed. "They even have a thing for Half-Bloods. I was so worried about you guys all summer. I'm sorry I couldn't write…"

"Andie, don't worry about it." Mandy comforted me. "My parents have no clue what's going on. They don't follow the daily prophet. They don't understand how much danger we are in… Especially since I'm a muggleborn." She sighed.

Suddenly, the carriage came to a halt, and we boarded off and entered the majestic castle.

We, amongst other students, flooded into the great hall. The ceiling above us all portrayed a clouded sky, and as I stared for a second longer, a flash of lightning struck across it. I became mesmerized by the beauty of the sky, and completely forgot lost my train of thought until I felt a tug on my arm.

"Here's a seat" Mandy called, pulling by the arm towards the Ravenclaw table. Everyone was so much quieter than usual, and I assumed it was a result of the Battle at the Ministry that happened last year. I wish I had gone, but I was told to stay back and keep watch. I climbed into my seat in between Lisa and Mandy, and still wasn't paying attention to my surroundings until I noticed the hall go even quieter than it already was. Snapping back into reality, I saw a short, petite first year girl stumble up onto the stage, where she placed the sorting hat onto her and was sorted into Ravenclaw. Our first student of the year! After asking Julie, I found out her name was Hanna Tribill. More students were placed into houses, and by the end, we had gained 8 new students; 4 girls and 4 boys. The whole hall was applauding the first-years as the sorting hat was being carried out, and it faded as the one boy who everyone had either wanted to see or dreaded to see walked into the hall, and he was covered in blood.

"What in Merlin's Pants happened to him?" Mandy whispered curiously.

"I don't know... But don't stare. I'm sure he wants to be left alone after what happened at the Ministry..." I trailed off, as each of our heads turned back to our food. Chatter was on the low and after a while little conversation, the plates were cleared and the room fell silent.

Dumbledore approached the podium. He began one of his annual speeches, but I didn't listen. Anything I didn't hear that was important would definitely be retold by someone else anyway. But there was something he said that grabbed my attention.

"...Now, as everybody in this hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength." He announced. Suddenly, as quickly as it caught my attention, it was lost again to the too familiar memory of earlier this summer, when Death Eaters and I had an encounter I wish to forget. I just stared at my pudding dish, which tears in my eyes while Professor Dumbledore droned on about how important is was that we stayed together.

"Andie- Are you okay?" Julie asked in a concerned way, tugging on my sleeve. I looked up from the dish to see that everyone was already shuffling out the hall. I slowly nodded my head, stood, and began making my way to our common room. All around me, friends were laughing about their summer, but Julie, Mandy and I just walked awkwardly straight up to the staircase that lead to the Eagle statue that led us in to common room.

"What has eyes, but can't see?" It asked. Still choked up from recalling my memory, I stayed silent and left the clue for Julie and Mandy to figure out. After a few tries, I figured it was hopeless.

"Can it be a blind person?" Mandy asked the eagle statue, frustrated.

"Guys, it's a potato." I murmured, and immediately the door to our common room swung open, emitting us to the vast den. "Follow me." I muttered to them, and we hurried into the sixth-year's dormitory.

"Okay, girl, what's up?" Mandy directed at me, plopping onto her bed.

"Summer was terrible. It was- family stuff, that's all..." I trailed off. I was going to pour everything out right there, but decided against it. I couldn't bring them into my problems. I wouldn't do that to them.

"Well, what kind of problems?" Julie asked curiously.

I tried resisting spilling, but before I could stop myself, my eyes filled with fresh tears and I blurted, "Death eaters."


	3. Chapter 3: Promises, Promises

_**Chapter 3: Promises, Promises**_

**Thank you for reading this far! Please check out my other story "The Next Generation: All Was 'Well'". It has a lot more chapters than this one, because I have been working on it longer. Please review this story! I love when I check my email, and I have a review! It makes me so happy! (: Please enjoy! And if this chapter gets more reviews, I'll upload chapter 4 sooner!**

The room was completely silent. The only sound that was heard was my own sobbing, as I tried to recollect myself and retell my horrible family history.

"Andie, what's wrong?" Lisa cooed softy, sitting next to me on my bed and grabbing my hand. "You know you can tell us anything, right?"

I took a deep breath, and began to recall hell. "I'll start from my first year, when I was sorted into Ravenclaw."

I hadn't heard a word from any of my family that year, besides my sister. Clearly they were disappointed that I was placed in a house other than Slytherin. I came home that summer, and it was one of the quietest summers I'd ever spent at home. I spent most of my time locked upstairs, in my room, avoiding my parents. Very occasionally, I'd pop by the staircase to eavesdrop on any news or to check for any mail, and I would catch my mother murmuring things like "... Disgrace to our pure blood" and "Blood Traitor." to my dad. Years got worse, however. When I entered my fourth year, I could tell my parents were hiding something. One day I walked into the living room, and noticed that on each of their left arms, a strange dark tattoo was printed. A few days later, the dark mark was spotted at the Quidditch World Cup, and the mark was nearly identical to the tattoo on my parents' arms.

Looking back now, life was easy until last year. I was beginning my fifth year when I decided to come downstairs and ask to go to Diagon Alley for school shopping. I walked down the staircase and peered through the slightly open doorway to see a sight I had only seen in my worst nightmares. Sitting in my very living room were none other than Lucius Malfoy and Fenrir Greyback.

"There's the blood traitor." growled the evil vampire. Slowly, very slowly, I backed out of the room. But not fast enough to overhear my own mother say "Some people just don't make the right choices. Like both my daughters for example. If the Lord ever needs a slave or two, he can take them."

At that moment, my sister and I ran straight to the Leaky Cauldron, where we stayed for one night and left for Hogwarts the next day. Another year went by, and we heard nothing directly from them. We saw articles, however, reporting a mass breakout from Azkaban. I knew my parents had to have helped.

This summer was the hard part, though. My sister and I were sitting in our study, enjoying a game of wizards' chess when we heard a fierce knock on our front door. Curious if who it was, I peeked into the hall where I could see a perfect view of who is entering the house. In walked Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, Narcissa Malfoy, and Alecto Carrow.

"Where are the traitors?" A very angry Bellatrix shrieked. "Dumbledore's Army! The little brats!"

"They're right upstairs. Do what you want to them." my dad said.

"Oh wittle twaitors, come out come out wherever you are!" she said in a mocking tone.

"Alex! Run!" I shouted just as Bellatrix saw me. I ran back to the bedroom, narrowly missing a curse that was probably the cruciatus.

"Take my hand!" Alex demanded, and just as I took it, she turned on her heel and I felt a squeezing sensation I had never experienced before.

"What happened? Where'd you take us?" I asked, dizzy from apparating for my first time and confused from what just happened at home.

"The Death Eaters. Mom and Dad are some, but I wasn't allowed to tell you... I don't think I have anything to lose now. Anyway, they turned us into He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for joining the DA. They're after us. They want to kill us." She panted. "I took us to the most muggle populated place I can think of, so here we are in London..."

"Where will we stay?" I asked.

"I found an apartment to stay in, but they can still find us. We'd have to move a lot. Actually, you have Hogwarts still, so I'd move around a lot..." she trailed off.

"No you won't." I said firmly. She looked at me questioningly, so I continued, "you can place a fidelius charm. I'll be secret keeper-DONT. I want to do this. I don't care if they torture me, I won't tell them where you are."

By now, both our eyes' had filled with tears and we were embraced in a tight hug.

"Stay safe." She sighed.

"I promise." I reassured.

…

Mandy and Lisa were speechless. They let me tell my story as the tears flowed down my cheeks and sat and listened. Now it was their turn to talk.

"Andie… I'm sorry." Lisa cooed, pulling me into a comforting hug. "And do they know? Your parents?" I shook my head to indicate that they didn't.

"That's terrible. If you need anywhere to go, please feel welcome to stay with my family." Mandy comforted me. "You're safe and okay, alright? There's nothing to worry about now. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world."

"And the worst part is, I can't contact her in anyway. If I owl'ed her, I'd be writing her address and breaking the charm." I sniffled.

"I know, I know." They cooed, holding me in their arms while I let the tears drop down my face. "How about you take a shower and we go to bed? We all need a good night's sleep. It will help." Lisa suggested.

It really did help. By the time I climbed into my sheets, I felt more content and less overwhelmed. With ease, I drifted off into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Defense Against the Dark Arts

**Hello, lovelies! I'm SOSOSOSOSOOSOSOOSSOSOSOO sorry that it took so long for me to upload this. I had tons of testing this week, and on top of that, I wasn't even sure whether I should continue this series. Please read and review (:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in here except for my own character… I wish I did though.**

**Chapter 4: Defense Against the Dark Arts**

I awoke the next morning feeling a lot more refreshed than the night before. A single ray of sunlight was peeking through the window, illuminating the dark blue and bronze curtains hanging on my four-poster. Slowly, making sure not to awaken anyone else, I crept out of my bed and carefully opened my trunk to grab my school robes, and walked into the bathroom to change into them.

I made my way down stairs to the common room. Today was the first day of classes, so I decided I should cram some extra information into my head to start the day. When I entered the cast, airy room, I saw that I was to only student to be up besides Luna Lovegood. She was sitting in the corner, wearing a ridiculous pair of glasses that looked like hands, and reading a magazine upside down.

"Good morning, Andrea." She greeted in her whimsical voice, not looking up from her book.

"Morning. What are you reading?" I asked.

"It's this month's copy of The Quibbler. It came with free spectrospecs. Want a pair? They detect wrackspurts."

"No thanks. I'm just going to get a bit of studying in before classes start." I informed her, and I grabbed _The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6_ and began reading. I scanned spell after spell as more students began shuffling into the common room. Just as I was packing my bag to leave for prefect duties, Lisa and Mandy prodded into the room.

"There you are!" Mandy smiled and greeted me.

"Hi. Sorry! I'd stay behind with you guys, but I need to get to prefect duties! I'll see you at breakfast!" I smiled, and walked out of the room and down the stairs to the Prefect's lounge.

Feeling in a particularly cheery mood, I entered the room grinning.

"Good morning, Andrea." Roger Davies greeted. "Please take a seat and we'll begin."

I took a seat, and looking around, notice I was the last person. Oops. Even Draco Malfoy arrived before me, and was sneering at me in the corner. I raised my eyebrows at him, and then turned my attention back to Roger.

"So, for now your duties are to wake up early and guard the halls, and stay 30 minutes later than curfew. The other prefect in your House and Year will be your partner. That means you will fulfill all duties _together_." Katie Bell, the Head Girl began. I tuned out the rest of the speech. So Anthony and I are working together… This should be interesting. Finally, 30 minutes later, we were released and I made my way to the Great Hall for breakfast. As I entered a main corridor, I saw Mandy and Lisa walking together about ten feet in front of me. I was in such a hurry to get to them; I didn't even notice the group of prefects in talking in the middle of the hall. I sped up to tag along with Lisa and Mandy, and suddenly _CRASH!_

My books flew everywhere. I looked up, and saw that I had walked straight into none other than Anthony Goldstein. "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going!" I began rambling.

"It's okay, don't worry about it!" He chuckled coolly. "I'll see you later." He winked at me, handed me my books, and then walked away.

When I looked back in Mandy's direction, I saw that she and Lisa were staring right at me, huge grins spread across their faces. I walked up to them, and it wasn't even five seconds until Mandy squealed "You _so_ like him!"

"No, I don't!" I defended myself, my face flushing.

"Oh _please_, Andie. We saw your whole face turn red! Admit it, you dig him." Lisa teased with her odd muggle language.

"Fine, maybe a little…" I blushed, and they squealed even louder. "But don't tell _anyone._" I demanded.

We ate our breakfast in a hurry, and then excitedly scuttled to the next class. I had Defense Against the Dark Arts first with Lisa. It took a good five minutes to navigate our way through the crowded halls, full of confused first years, and twice I had to direct a group where to find the Potions room. Finally, we climbed the last staircase and stood at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. I raised my hand to knock, but there was no need. Professor Snape swung the door open, stepped aside, and made a gesture with his head towards the inside of the room.

As I stepped into the room, I noticed the completely different atmosphere. Each of my years at Hogwarts, I have had a different DADA teacher, but NEVER had any of them had as hideous and dark decorations (If you can call the drawn curtains that.) as Snape. Lisa and I took a seat towards the middle of the classroom, right behind Draco Malfoy and his groupies. I knew almost immediately this was a huge mistake, because Malfoy couldn't stop complaining about how "dumpy" Hogwarts was getting. That was total rubbish. Within the next two minutes, almost everyone had filed into the room and found seats, when the last people were Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Inside." I heard Snape command. They obeyed, and took their seats. Soon after, Snape stood at the front of the class and announced in his low voice with each word dangling in the air.

"I have not asked you to take out your books." with that, I reluctantly threw my _Confronting the Faceless _textbook back into my bag.

"You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe." he paused._ Yeah. We have. And we'll have another ten more by the time I graduate_. I thought to myself. Then, he began ridiculing us on how surprised he is we even passed on to the N.E.W.T class.

"The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal." he began a speech that I only half listened to. I was still thinking about my encounter with Michael, and how dreamy his smile was... Suddenly, everyone had sprung out of their seats, and I followed, confused as to what was going on.

"What are we doing?" I murmured timidly to Lisa, who was leading me to a far corner in the room.

"Non-verbal spells. We have to try to- err- jinx each other, and try using _Protego_ without speaking..."

_Easy enough. _I thought to myself. I was dead wrong.

To make things short and sweet and a lot less painful, Lisa and I took turns using Flipendo on each other while the other scrunched up our faces, trying our best not to say the spell aloud, and as a result we were flipped backwards and sent sprawled across the ground.

"Maybe if you clear you mind of other utter nonsense, Ms. Gattuso..." came the drooling voice of Professor Snape. Turning around, I saw that he was standing behind me. I turned back to Lisa, cleared my mind of all things except protection (after all, I may need it if I ever choose to return home.), and gave her a curt nod, indicating I was ready.

"Flipendo!" she sent the spell straight to me, and with the swift swipe of my wand, I was completely safe.

When I proudly turned back to Snape, however, he had a sly smirk on his face and sneered, "Great, now you have just about as much skill as a fourth year." I was really going to miss Dumbledore's Army.

...

"I really don't see why he's such a jerk. You did great, Andie." Lisa complained loudly on our way to potions. "I swear, I am going to shove my wand so far up his-"

"Okay! I get it, Leece." I chuckled. "He's just jealous because none of his Slytherins got it first." We descended yet another staircase, and finally bumped into Mandy. We told her all about our interesting lesson. Four flights of stairs later, we came to the entrance of the potions room, where Professor Slughorn was standing, greeting everyone.

"Aha! Ms. Gattuso! Please come in." he winked at me.

We entered the room, and only a handful of students were there. As I took my seat towards the front of the room, I noticed three cauldrons placed across a long table, and the room smelled a little like books and fresh linen.

"Wow that smells great…" Lisa said dreamily. "Just like fruit salad."

"Must be Amorentia, then," I stated, "because I smell my laundry soap and books." She giggled. "But what are the other two?" I asked.

"It looks like we are about to find out." Lisa said, pointing to the front of the room, where Professor Slughorn had appeared and was instructing us to take out our scales and books.

He indicated to the three potions, and asked what the one nearest the Slytherins was. Of course, the first hand up was that of Hermione Granger's.

"It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth." She announced.

"Very good, very good. Now, this potion is pretty well-known," He pointed to the cauldron closest to my table. Lisa, Mandy, and I all leaned over to see what was in it, and I noticed a gray, muddy, and thick substance. It looked extremely unappetizing. "…Who can - ?" He began to ask, but once again, Hermione's hand shot straight up.

"It's polyjuice potion, sir." She answered.

It ends up I was right, the last potion was Amorentia. Professor Slughorn assigned to us a Draught of Living Death, and whoever made the most perfect one would swap it for a bottle of Felix Felicis. Sadly, potions wasn't my calling. I ended up giving up in the middle of brewing, and when we were finally dismissed, I couldn't help letting out a few swears in the hallways on our way to the dormitories.

**Sorry about the terrible ending guys. I got a little bit distracted and completely lost my train of thought. I'm not sure if I should continue this… Can you help me decide? Please tell me what you think I should do in a review!**


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